I came up with a silly poem to give my secret Santa teacher pal on our final day, and I just thought I’d share that with you. But please be aware that you can eliminate the religious stanza to make it more adaptable to your Secret Santa.

I’m sure you’re thinking daily

Who sent this stuff to you?

She’s poetic and she’s crafty

Or at least she thinks that’s true

Perhaps you’d like a hint

Perhaps you want a clue

Well brace yourself, it’s coming

That’s what I’m about to do

The first time that I met you

I thought you were a farce

“No one’s that nice,” I said to myself

“She’s faking it, of course.”

How foolish was I, how stupid

To think it wasn’t you

With your sweet smile and clever eyes

And all the kind things you do

You had a secret. I didn’t know

That Jesus was in your heart

Your kindness is a reflection

Of those who stand apart

So now I understand

Your goodness is genuine

I can’t believe I thought you fake

The error is definitely mine

And someday when we’re old and gray

And ready to leave this place

I’ll see you up in heaven

With a genuine smile on your face

Unless they only let Catholics in

In which case I’m outta luck

I’ll wave to you from hell I guess

But that will really suck!

Now, of course, you’ll want to alter some of the words to fit your secret Santa pal. For example, you might want to change “Catholics” to “Baptists” (or whatever religion applies to your secret Pal belongs to). You could even change it to “Unless they only let science teachers in” if the person’s religion is unknown. Also, if the person is not a Christian, just eliminate the “Jesus was in your heart” stanza from the poem, and you’re good to go.

And remember, my sister site is a lot of fun too: https://chellywood.com/ It offers free, printable doll clothes patterns for anyone who enjoys sewing.

In addition to this Secret Santa blog, I also run ChellyWood.com, which offers free, printable sewing patterns for doll clothes and doll accessories. This year, for the holidays, ChellyWood.com is offering this free pattern for a miniature Christmas stocking. So I thought, “Hey! I should share this with my Secret Santa followers too!”

This sewing tutorial shows you exactly how to make the little holiday stockings. Even if you don’t sew, this is an easy project to make. You could probably even use felt and hot glue. (But my tutorial shows you how to make them with a needle and thread.)

The FREE printable no-sew ornament pattern is available at: https://chellywood.com/2018/11/15/crafty-hanukkah-or-christmas-diy-tutorial-w-free-pattern-chellywood-com-3/

You can download the pattern and cut out a bunch of fabric squares. As you see in the video, you would use straight pins to poke the squares into a Styrofoam ball. Then just turn each square into triangles (shown in the video) and pin them down in layers.

It’s a fairly simple project to make, and what secret Santa would love to get one of these in their stocking?

In case you didn’t see yesterday’s post, here’s a link to the pattern you’ll need for making this adorable holiday ornament. As I said before, this ornament looks complicated, but really it’s not! My girls, ages 13 and 16 even said it looked a lot harder than it really was. (We’ve made a half dozen or so of them this holiday season.)

Remember, if you love my free poems and craft projects for Secret Santa or Silly Santa, please show your appreciation by sharing this video on social media! Thanks, and happy holidays!

Next week I’ll post the tutorial showing you how to make this easy, no-sew holiday ornament. The blue and white one makes a great ornament for friends or family members who celebrate Hanukkah.

My brother-in-law is Jewish, so my sister’s family has a tree but also a Menorah. I put together the blue ornament as a holiday gift for us to give my brother-in-law when we all get together for the holidays. It honors his Jewish heritage with the blue and white colors of the flag of Israel (which are also the colors commonly associated with Hanukkah), but it can also hang from their family’s Christmas tree, honoring the religious beliefs of both sides of the family.

Unfortunately the star at the center of the quilted holiday ornament is not a true “Star of David,” like one finds in the center of the flag of Israel. So don’t be confused by that. The Star of David has only six points; whereas these ornaments’ stars have eight points.

I suppose you could try to alter the pattern for a six-pointed star, but that might be tricky. If you’re going to try that route, please leave a comment, letting me know how you accomplished it and how the end result fared.

If you’re looking for a Christmas tree ornament, of course, you can’t go wrong with this nifty ornament in red, green, white, and/or gold. In a hurry to create your ornament? The video tutorial for making this holiday ornament will post earlier on ChellyWood.com and my YouTube channel than here. Navigate to those locations to make your ornament early.

This is my last post before Christmas, so you may want to see my Secret Santa reveal poem again before it’s all over. Just click that link to find the poem I’ve posted in years past.

Remember, it’s always friendly and kind to pin, like, or tweet about my creations. That helps spread the word that my websites exist. So if you enjoyed using my Secret Santa poems, projects, and patterns this year, please show your appreciation by pinning, liking, or tweeting about them. Thanks!